STAM REVEALS HEARTACHE BEHIND MOVE

FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED defender Jaap Stam has stated his departure from England was due to family reasons, after being told he was no longer in Sir Alex Ferguson's plans, he decided to look towards another country.

The swiftness of the Dutch star's exit has led observers to discuss the reasoning behind the move, with Stam's autobiography, 'Head to Head' thought to be at the forefront of the move.

Stam revealed he wanted to have a settled family life, something he would not have until mid-September.  The giant defender is due to play against the Republic of Ireland and Estonia for Holland and then fly to Italy to make his debut in the Rome derby against Roma for Lazio, following his £16 million transfer.

He will then play in the Champions League for his new side and it is this start that has given the player cause for much thought.

Stam said: "I'm not going to be seeing my family for at least a couple of weeks and that is hard.  I like being with my family as much as I can.  I feel at my most comfortable when I am with them.

"It is particularly tough with very young children because they are changing every day and you don't want to miss seeing them.

"The next couple of weeks are going to be so hectic for me.  My wife is flying over for the first couple of days in Rome, then she'll be going back to England to sort out our affairs.

"My family were very keen to go as well because there has been a lot of rubbish spoken about me.  Everyone has been talking about it, and any time my wife has gone out with my children, she has had to put up with people asking 'What has your husband done now?'.

"These people don't know the truth and it's tough to deal with the thought of my wife facing all these questions without me there to help her handle it.  She was quite happy to leave England.

"That is why I couldn't stay in The Premiership, because the same questions would just keep coming up time and time again, and everything would flare up if I had to play against United.

"It made it easy for me to choose a club outside England and my wife fully supports me.

"Thankfully we have already found a place in Rome and hopefully we can move in soon.  Lazio have been good helping me find a place, but so were United - it's just in England the paperwork takes so long."

Stam did have one major regret at moving - the fact he did not have time to say his farewells to his former team-mates.

"I haven't had a chance to say goodbye to my team-mates at United because so much happened so quickly.  But in a couple of weeks I hope to go back to Manchester to say my farewells," said Stam.